Honolulu Civil Beat v. Honolulu Police Commission

Honolulu Civil Beat and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser challenged the Honolulu Police Commission’s policy to close contested case proceedings to the public without following the procedural and substantive First Amendment standards established by the Hawai`i Supreme Court. The Court denied the petition because the Commission’s policy had not yet been used to exclude members of the public from contested case proceedings. No. SCPW-17-661.

After the petition for mandamus, the Commission adopted a rule–contrary to its previously adopted policy–to conduct contested case proceedings in accordance with First Amendment standards.